Residents of Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa have appealed to the state government to repair the Otuoke-Onuebum road which has been in a deplorable condition.

Otuoke is the hometown of former President Goodluck Jonathan who led Nigeria for five years (2000 – 2015) after he had served as deputy governor and governor of Bayelsa for eight years.

Bad and non-motorable roads are not limited to Otuoke or Bayelsa, but present in every part of Nigeria.

The residents made the appeal in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Otuoke on Sunday.

Ologi Damiete told NAN that the condition of the road had become worse since the last rainy season as vehicles now found it difficult to pass through.

Mr. Damiete, a staff of the Federal University, Otuoke, FUO, appealed to the state government to come to the aid of the residents by fixing the road.

“The condition of this road has become worse since the flood that submerged the whole community and there has not been any preventive measure to forestall future occurrence.

“We are expecting the government to put necessary measures in place to guard against future occurrence.

“Students of FUO have resumed for the new semester and they have been finding it difficult moving in and out of the community.

“I am calling on all the relevant authorities to look into the matter because we has become unbearable. Our vehicles have been damaged because of the road,” he said.

Another resident, Oweifa Debekeme, urged the state government to make more efforts toward checking flooding in the state, pointing out that flood had destroyed many roads in the state.

He said that the people were suffering and government had the responsibility to alleviate their agony by providing roads and other infrastructure for them.

A taxi driver plying the road, Babatunde Adeola, said the road was already in a bad shape before the flood destroyed it completely.

Mr. Adeola called on the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to also help repair the road to alleviate the plight of the people.

He implored the Bayelsa Government to come to the aid of the people of Otuoke and Onuebum communities as well as students and staff of the university.

He said the youth in the communities now help by sand-filling the bad portions on regular basis, adding that “commercial drivers now pay them for that”.